A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly Weinersmith & Zach Weinersmith

Author:Kelly Weinersmith & Zach Weinersmith [Weinersmith, Kelly & Weinersmith, Zach]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Science, Space, Exploration, Technology, History, Popular Science, Illustrated
ISBN: 9781984881731
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

Part V

The Paths Forward: Bound for Moonsylvania?

We recognize that there’ve been a lot of legal terms so far. So as we move to the speculative possibilities, let’s bottom-line things: the rules that we have are vague. By some nation’s interpretations they permit endless exploitation and pseudo-territorial claims, but without sovereignty. Nuclear powers are moving to stake claims in a largely unregulated environment in which they may disagree about what the law actually permits.

Either we wait for a crisis and then see what shakes out or we push for some kind of agreeable framework for space now. But what framework should we choose? Broadly speaking, there are two paths forward. We could create an international regime to manage behavior in space to prevent attempts by nations or alliances to claim all the most desirable places. Or, we could find a managed way to allow national appropriation, so that there would really be parts of the Moon that are China or America or India or even new nations altogether. The latter option would at least provide clarity, but we have trouble imagining a way to get there without conflict.

We’ll get into the details of how both of these possibilities might work, but the thing to understand is this: the path we take during this century is likely to affect the human future for a very long time. Much of modern sea law derives from traditions that were already old during the seventeenth century when modern international law was in its infancy. The space law of 2020 may profoundly shape the possibility of space settlements in the year 2200.

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